Enclosure system

ABSTRACT

A swimming or wading pool has an enclosed area for playing games such as volleyball and basketball, so that the enclosed pool serves as a game court.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

[0001] The present invention relates to enclosures for swimming pools,particularly aboveground pools.

[0002] A swimming or wading pool has an enclosed area for playing gamessuch as volleyball and basketball, so that the enclosed pool serves as agame court. Various constructions are possible. Advantageously, a poolis surrounded by an enclosure having at least one inflatable bladder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] In the drawings:

[0004]FIG. 1 is an oblique view of a pool and enclosure;

[0005]FIG. 2 is an enlarged, partial oblique view of the pool andenclosure of FIG. 1, with a portion of an upright member broken away toshow internal structure;

[0006]FIG. 3 is an oblique view of another pool and enclosure;

[0007]FIG. 4 is an enlarged, partial oblique view of the pool andenclosure of FIG. 3, with a portion telescoped to show the attachment ofan upright member,

[0008]FIG. 5 is an oblique view of another pool and enclosure;

[0009]FIG. 6 is an enlarged, partial oblique view of the pool andenclosure of FIG. 5, with a portion telescoped to show the attachment ofan upright member,

[0010]FIG. 7 is an oblique view of another pool and enclosure;

[0011]FIG. 8 is an enlarged, partial oblique view of the pool andenclosure of FIG. 7, showing the attachment of an upright member;

[0012]FIG. 9 is an oblique view of another pool and enclosure; and

[0013]FIG. 10 is an oblique view of another pool and enclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Swimming or wading pools having an enclosed area for playinggames such as volleyball, basketball, and the like are shown in all ofthe drawing figures. These enclosed pools serve as game courts. Gameballs and other equipment are retained within the enclosed area; and theenclosure serves as a fence to prevent a person, who jumps up frominside the pool, from falling onto the surrounding ground. The enclosurealso serves as a barrier to prevent persons from falling into the wateraccidentally.

[0015] FIGS. 1-7 show pools and enclosures, portions of which areinflatable bladders. In some cases, at least some of the bladderscommunicate with one another so that they can be filled from a commonsource of air or other fluid.

[0016]FIG. 1 shows a pool and enclosure system wherein the pool 20 is awatertight vessel that has a floor (not shown) and a sidewall 26. Thepool contains water 28.

[0017] An enclosure 30 has base ring bladder 32 and an upper ringbladders 34 that best are vertically aligned to be concentric to acommon vertical axis A₁. The base ring bladder 32 in this systemconnects to the upper edge of the sidewall 26 and serves as a top railfor the pool 20. The sidewall 26 can be made from PVC, fabric, or anyother resilient material. Enclosure upright members 40 support the upperring bladder 34 above the base ring bladder 32. These upright members 40are upwardly extending inflatable bladders. For additional support,inflatable sidewall upright members 44 are inflatable bladders that canbe positioned below some or all of the enclosure upright members 40 orelsewhere along the sidewall 26 of the pool 20.

[0018] Flexible fencing, netting or other fabric-like material 50extends between the rings 32, 34 to complete the enclosure. A door oropening is provided in the fabric-like material 50 to provide access tothe interior of the enclosure.

[0019] FIGS. 3-4 show a pool and enclosure system can have base andupper ring bladders 132, 134 as in FIG. 1, only in the system of FIGS.3-4 the top ring bladder 134 is supported by enclosure upright members140 that are metal or plastic poles or tubes. The bottoms of the polesor tubes 140 are received in sockets 142 formed in the base ring bladder132. The poles or tubes 140 should be self-supporting, but should besufficiently flexible that they will bend elastically when lateral forceis applied. The flexibility of the poles allows them to adsorb energyshould a person impact the enclosure.

[0020] The upper ring bladder 134 supports generally horizontallyextending cross members 136. The cross members support a roof offlexible fencing, netting or other fabric-like material that furtherhelps retain athletic equipment within the enclosed area defined by thepool and enclosure system.

[0021] In FIGS. 5-6 an enclosure 230 floats on top of water in a pool220. In particular, a base ring bladder 232 floats on water of the pool,with other elements of the enclosure 230 extending upwardly from thebase ring bladder. Such enclosures are designed for pools 220 having aresilient top rail 233 at the upper perimeter edge of the sidewall 226and/or having a sidewall 226 that is resilient. The outside diameter ofthe ring bladder 232 should be the same as or close to the insidediameter of the resilient top rail 233 so that the ring bladder 232nests within the top rail 233. Poles or tubes 240 arch and connect at acentral apex 241 above the pool 220. The bottoms of the poles or tubes240 are received in sockets 242 formed in the base ring bladder 232.

[0022] The pool and enclosure system of FIGS. 7-8 is similar to that ofFIGS. 3-4 in that a top ring bladder 334 is supported over a base ringbladder 332, that is the top rail of a pool 320, by enclosure uprightmembers 340 that are metal or plastic poles or tubes. In this instance,the enclosure upright members 340 extend through passageways 343 definedin the base ring bladder 332 and all the way to the bottom of the poolor to the ground. Thus each enclosure upright member 340 has an upperportion 345 that extends above the base ring bladder 332 and a lowerportion 346 that extends below the base ring bladder. The bottom end ofeach enclosure upright member 340 is received in a socket or pocket 348attached to the sidewall 326 of the pool 320.

[0023] The pool and enclosure systems of FIGS. 1-8 are advantageous inthat any impact to the area of the enclosure above the water that isgreater than 100 foot pounds of energy is partially absorbed by thewater in the pool and/or by the resilient sidewalls of the pool suchthat an impact to the enclosure would cause the sidewall to deform orthe shape of the pool perimeter to deform during an impact therebyhelping to absorb the forces of impact directed at the netting orsidewall material of the enclosure.

[0024] The enclosures add structural support to pools having inflatableor resilient sidewalls, such that an impact force applied to the top orside of the pool is partially absorbed by the enclosure. Theseenclosures are physically or frictionally connected to the pool toaccomplish this goal. The added support provided by such an enclosurereduces the amount of water that would otherwise spill out during agiven impact to the top or side of the resilient pool wall.

[0025] The inflatable bladders, of the pool and enclosure systems ofFIGS. 1-8, can vary in firmness from day to day, or from hour to hourwithin a single day due to air expansion and contraction caused byambient temperature fluctuations.

[0026] One way to avoid such fluctuations in firmness is to use an airpump that operates to inflate the bladder(s) when the pressure is belowa desired level. Such a pump could be mechanical or electrical. Amechanical pump could operate on the energy generated from the movementof persons inside the enclosure. A solar energy cell or battery couldpower an electrical pump.

[0027] A second method for controlling pressure variations due totemperature fluctuations is shown in FIG. 2. A spring-actuated device 60is compressed as an air bladder expands during the heat of the day, andcontracts with the cold of the night. Such a spring device could beinstalled in an interior portion of the enclosure as illustrated, orcould be installed on the exterior (not shown).

[0028] A third method is to fill some or all of the bladders with aliquid such as water, in which case there would be substantially noexpansion. An advantage of this approach is that the water would havegreater mass that a gas, and thus would make the bladders more rigid tobetter resist impacts on exposed surfaces of the enclosure.

[0029] One could combine the second and third methods, or provide a mixair and liquid in a bladder, and/or include an air shock to give thewater someplace to go when the bladder is impacted since water does notcompress. Filling one or more bladder members with both air and waterhas important advantages. The performance of the enclosure can be tunedby varying the ration of air to water. Usually, best results areobtained when half the volume of a bladder is occupied with water andthe other half of the volume is filled with air. When a pool is to beused by relatively heavy persons, more water could be used. If lighterpersons will use the pool, the amount of air relative to the amount ofwater can be increased to achieve comparable performance.

[0030] FIGS. 9-10 each show a pool and freestanding enclosure system.During a high-energy impact, such freestanding enclosures will transferless impact force to the pool then the enclosure systems of FIGS. 1-8,reducing the potential for stress damage to the pool. This reduction inimpact force helps to reduce the amount of water that would spill outduring a given impact to the top or side of a resilient pool wall. Also,an enclosure that stands independently and is not frictionally orphysically connected to a pool with resilient sidewalls could beemployed to limit pool sidewall deformation so that less water is lostfrom the pool.

[0031]FIG. 9 shows one freestanding enclosure 430 that, when impacted,does not necessarily transfer impact forces to a pool structure 420because a freestanding enclosure can be installed so that it is notphysically or frictionally connected to its pool. In the system of FIG.9, poles 440 extend from the ground to support a top ring 434 withouttouching, or only lightly touching, the pool 420. The fence material 450best will touch or lie alongside the top rail 433 of the pool so thatthe pool and enclosure can best serve as a game court. If the fencematerial 450 is spaced from the top rail 433, balls and other athleticequipment might fall to the ground thought the gap between the fencematerial and the pool.

[0032]FIG. 10 shows a freestanding enclosure 530 installed inside a pool520 with the base of the enclosure contacting the floor of the pool.This enclosure has poles 540 that arch and connect at a central apex 541above the pool 520. It is designed to absorb some of the impact forcefrom a falling object above the pool so that if and when a fallingobject does impact the pool, the impact force will have been reduced.

[0033] The freestanding enclosures shown in FIGS. 9-10 are formedentirely of noninflatable elements. Freestanding enclosures having oneor more inflatable bladder elements also could be constructed along thesame lines.

[0034] It will be appreciated that pool and enclosure systems can beconfigured in numerous other ways and combinations based on theprinciples described herein.

[0035] For example, the base and upper rings and vertical supportscould, as shown in some of the drawing figures, be made of resilient orless-resilient materials such as PVC, fiberglass, and even non-resilienttubular or solid steel members.

[0036] Although base and upper rings are most often illustrated as beinggenerally circular, such members could have other ring shapes, includingpolygonal rings such as octagons, hexagons, and rectangles.

[0037] Accessories, such as squirt guns, baskets, ball tubes, lights,and water hoses, can be attached for playing games that teach eye handcoordination, timing, and the like.

[0038] An enclosure system, having one or more inflatable bladders,could also be used to surround a trampoline to provide a protectivefence. To avoid fluctuations in firmness of the bladder(s), a mechanicalor electrical air pump that operates to inflate the bladder(s) could bepowered the bed of trampoline. The trampoline could have more than onebed for greater shock absorption. The trampoline could have a shocksurface fixed to top or bottom of its bed(s). Bottom attachment helpsprevent injury if bed bottoms out on ground. The trampoline could havecams attached in line with some or all of the springs or elasticmembers.

[0039] Many of the above-described enclosures could be used with aninflatable trampoline frame of the type that looks like a big inner tubewith an elastic top surface for jumping. The inflatable ring that servesas the trampoline frame could be filled with a liquid or a liquid/gasmixture for reasons described above. And poles or tubes could extendupwardly from the frame to serve as enclosure upright members.

1. A pool and enclosure system comprising: a water tight vessel having afloor and a sidewall that extends upwardly from the floor; and anenclosure that extends above the sidewall to define an enclosed areaabove the vessel.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the enclosurecomprises: a base ring member; an upper ring member; and plural uprightmembers that extend between the base ring member and the upper ringmember to support the upper ring member above the base ring member. 3.The system of claim 2 wherein at least one of the ring members is aninflatable bladder.
 4. The system of claim 2 wherein at least at leastsome of the upright members are inflatable bladders.
 5. The system ofclaim 2 wherein the ring members and the upright members are inflatablebladders.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the interiors of the bladderscommunicate with one another so that the members can be inflated througha single opening into the interior of one of the bladders.
 7. Anenclosure system comprising: an upper ring member; and plural uprightmembers that extend between the base ring member and the upper ringmember to support the upper ring member above the base ring member, atleast one of the members being a bladder that is at least partiallyfilled with water.